Proposal Assignment #1: Combines Introduction and Literature Review

Proposal Assignment #1: Combines Introduction and Literature Review

This assignment is a draft–it is just to get you started. You can rewrite your introduction and question, and redo/refine your literature review right up until the final proposal is due, but the draft should indicate that you have put effort into developing an “answerable question” about a problem or program that you have documented with cited references. Your references for the Introduction can be from sources other than academic journals, but they should be “legitimate sources” from websites or documents that can be referenced in APA style. References for the Literature Review must be research articles from academic journals. Be sure to cite all your sources and DO NOT PLAGIARIZE. All papers (drafts and the final proposal) will be submitted via Turnitin and you get only 1 warning about plagiarism before losing points or failing the course.

1. Introduction (11/2 – 2 pages, 5 pts)
a. Descriiption of the program or issue to be investigated—what is the problem you are addressing or the program you are evaluating? This section might contain statistics of prevalence or incidence.
b. Statement and documentation of the significance of the program or issue and the rationale for studying it relative to social work. This part should describe why the problem is important, or evidence of the impact of the problem for society.
c. Purpose of the proposed study–formal statement of research question(s). Your question should be “well-built”– it can’t be vague or unclear; it must tell the reader precisely what you would like to investigate. The question cannot be an answer to a fact (e.g., what is the poverty rate in Kentucky compared to the poverty rate in the U.S.?) and cannot “discover” something that we already know from prior studies.

2. Literature review (11/2 – 2 pages, 5 pts; minimum of 3 research article references that should be attached to your paper)
a. Summary and integration of related research and findings/ identified gaps in the literature—you should summarize in your own words what you have learned about the topic; identify the gap(s) in our knowledge on the topic. (The discussion section of research articles is a good place to find these gaps.) The gaps you find in the literature should help you build your rationale for the study. Why is your study needed and what will it contribute to our knowledge base?
b. Framework for the proposed study including conceptual definitions of major concepts if needed—this part is to help define the parameters of your proposed study—its limits.
c. Restatement of research question(s) as refined by the literature review. Conclude this section with your research question(s).

3. References (5 pts.): Use the APA style to cite and reference your sources for your introduction and literature review; minimum of 3 references in your literature review must be research articles from social work or social science journals. This is the absolute minimum number; most of you will have more for your final proposal. BE SURE TO ATTACH YOUR 3 RESEARCH ARTICLES TO YOUR PAPER.

Proposal Assignment #2: Include your Introduction and Literature Review drafts—ideally modified based on the feedback provided and by updates in your knowledge of your topic. This assignment is a draft of your Methods/Methodology section—it should be based on and consistent with your Introduction and Literature Review. This is the third section of your proposal and should describe in detail how you plan to conduct your proposed study—if you are proposing to collect data from primary sources, you need to describe who your subjects will be and how you plan to recruit and protect them. If you are proposing to use secondary data, you need to describe how that data was collected and how you will get permission to use it. You then need to describe the data to be collected or used, measures used, and independent and dependent variables if applicable. Finally, you need to describe how you will analyze and use your data. You don’t have to identify specific statistics you might employ; just say you would report the most common responses, or compare the scores of two groups, or compare pre-test and post-test scores, for example. Again, this should tie back to your introduction–why you think your study is important and your findings would be significant for social work practice. Follow the outline below.

3. Methodology (2 – 3 pages, 10 pts.) This section should describe a feasible/doable research project.
a Description of the proposed study design and strategy: research design (e.g., survey, classic experimental design, one-group pre-test post-test design, secondary data analysis, etc.)
b. Sampling design, description of proposed sample/subjects, recruitment plan (who are you studying and how are you getting participants to participate?)
c. Plan to protect human subjects (given your proposed sample, how would you submit your study to the IRB? How are you recruiting your participants to ensure that they are volunteers? Do they fall into any groups that need additional protection? How are you ensuring informed consent, confidentiality, etc.?)
d. Description of data collection procedures and instruments/measures (operational definitions of variables, instrument reliability & validity). Are you using existing measures–what are they? How are you determining if your measures are reliable and valid?)
e. Plan for analysis and use of data—do not describe specific statistical analyses unless you are sure you know what you are describing. If you plan to compare the results of two groups, you do not have to specify that you will use ANOVA or t-tests to do so–just tell me you will compare the results of the two groups and that will usually suffice. This part should also address what you expect to find, what the significance of your findings will be for social work practice, and what the weaknesses/limitations of your design are and what you might do if you had more time and resources.

4. References (0 pts.—for your benefit/feedback only.): Use the APA style; minimum of 5 references, 3 of which should be research articles from social work or social science journals. IF YOU HAVE CHANGED YOUR RESEARCH ARTICLES FROM YOUR INTRO/LIT REVIEW DRAFT, BE SURE TO ATTACH THEM. This is the absolute minimum number; most of you will have more by your final proposal.